Chapter 173 Who Masterminded This

Lu Zhou had the day off. He woke up late, leisurely enjoying his breakfast while scrolling through today's trending news on his phone, browsing through content across all types of sections.

When he reached the entertainment section, an eye-catching headline unexpectedly caught his eye at the top of the trending list:

#Zhang Chen's new girlfriend highly suspected to be Nami Kimura#
#Zhang Chen photographed holding hands with a beauty entering a hotel in Country R#
#Zhang Chen, once deeply infatuated with Ye Fangfei, suspected to have a new girlfriend#

Lu Zhou's movement of drinking milk paused abruptly. "..."

He tapped on the top trending topic to take a look. The first post was published by a marketing account, and the grid of nine photos was completely filled with candid shots.

In the photos, Zhang Chen's face was completely uncovered and exposed to view. Although not exceptionally sharp, one could recognize him instantly at a single glance without a doubt.

The young woman whose hand he was holding wore a black hat and a face mask. The two of them were secretly photographed all the way from the entrance of a luxury hotel into the lobby, behaving intimately and chatting laughingly in the pictures.

This was practically set in stone.

He really had taken a new girlfriend.

The comment section was bustling with activity, with gossip-loving netizens jumping up and down:

[Holy shit! I said all along that Zhang Chen's previous persona of a devoted and single-minded boyfriend was all an act. They only had a three-day experimental romance with Ye Fangfei in the show, so how could he possibly reach the level of being so deeply and hopelessly in love as portrayed on screen? Zhang Chen's fans refused to believe it and chased after me cursing for so long. As expected, not a single rich guy is faithful! He claimed he couldn't live without you one second, and hooked up with another woman the next. It's a good thing Ye Fangfei wasn't fooled by his fake act back then! Remaining firmly opposed to getting back together was the right choice!]

[He's unfaithful already? How absurd. They broke up so long ago, and after he went on the show and tried hard to win back his ex-girlfriend only to be coldly rejected, what? Are people not allowed to start a new life and pursue new happiness? What's wrong with getting a new girlfriend? Could it be that because Ye Fangfei didn't want him, he was supposed to remain chaste for her forever and lick his wounds in his own world alone? Can you people be normal, please?]

[The main point is not at all that Brother Chen has a new girlfriend; the main point is that his new girlfriend is highly suspected to be Nami Kimura! Did you guys miss the main point or what?]

[Ignore those idiots ahead. Damn, did Zhang Chen actually sleep with my "wafer"? If so, I want to knife him.]

[If it really is Nami Kimura, I reckon netizens both domestically and in Country R are going to explode, haha!]

[Does Zhang Chen have some kind of obsession with entertainment industry stars? Unable to get Ye Fangfei, he turns around and easily bags the national goddess of Country R instead??? Is he trying to prove something to Ye Fangfei? Hahaha, Zhang Chen's inner monologue: Bro, I don't give a damn about you anymore!]

[Shall we hold a poll? Between Ye Fangfei and Nami Kimura, who do you think is prettier?]

[Of course Feifei-zi is the prettiest!]

[No, no, no, Nami Kimura is the best.]

[Are you guys toxic?]

[Am I the only one envying Brother Chen? The ex-girlfriend is Ye Fangfei, and the current girlfriend is Nami Kimura... Is there anything else I don't know?]

[Nothing has been confirmed yet. You look at a side profile and claim it's Nami Kimura? Can you stop spreading rumors?]
……

Lu Zhou took a screenshot of the trending search on his phone, drew a big red circle around the corresponding topic with a red pen, and then switched to the Wetalk interface to send it to Zhang Chen.

Lu Zhou: [Screenshot]
Lu Zhou: [The scandal has hit the headlines and you still haven't PR-ed it away. Are you planning to make it official?]

After sending the message, Lu Zhou didn't plan to wait for Zhang Chen's reply. He continued to leisurely eat his breakfast and check out other news developments.

Meanwhile, in another country.

Zhang Chen was still fast asleep in bed.

A soft palm brushed against his chest and gave him a couple of gentle shoves.

Only then did Zhang Chen slowly wake up from his dream, frowning and squinting his eyes into tiny slits to look at the person in his arms, his expression still somewhat dazed from just waking up.

"Your phone... has been vibrating continuously. I thought there might be something urgent you need to handle? Would you like to take a look?" the woman communicated in English.

Zhang Chen was dazed for a moment before he turned his head toward the phone. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he reached out and picked it up.

A bunch of missed calls, along with many unread Wetalk messages.

Only then did he fully wake up. Pushing the person in his arms away, he rolled over and sat up from the bed, the duvet sliding down with his movement, leaving his upper body bare.

Unlocking his phone, the very first notification that popped up happened to be the Wetalk message Lu Zhou had sent not long ago.

Zhang Chen casually tapped it open, and as a result, he froze the instant he saw it.

"Damn it!"

Zhang Chen immediately let out a curse.

The woman snuggled next to him didn't understand the language, but judging by his tone, it sounded like angry words. She asked in English with concern, "What's wrong?"

By this time, Zhang Chen had already opened domestic Weibo to check the real situation of the trending topics, and the headlines were indeed brightly hanging with the scandal about him.

He chuckled and tapped into the topic to read through the posts for a bit.

Oh my? So many people were cursing him; how refreshing!

Zhang Chen tapped on the photos in the marketing account's post to enlarge them and showed them to the woman beside him.

The woman suddenly covered her mouth with her hand and let out an exclamation of "Oh!", "We were photographed?"

"Not just photographed; it's on the trending headlines now, and the internet is lively," Zhang Chen said with a hooked lip and a smile.

"Then that's terrible." The woman frowned, panicked, and bounced out of the bed. Without even taking the time to put on clothes, she went straight to grab her phone to contact her management team.

Zhang Chen hadn't specified which country's internet was lively, so the woman naturally assumed it was her own country's affair.

Looking extremely anxious, she grabbed her phone and prepared to call her manager.

Zhang Chen looked at her unhurriedly and said, "What are you panicking for? Be calm."

The woman suddenly asked, "Will you marry me?"

Zhang Chen: "Huh?"

The woman: "If you marry me, I won't panic."

Zhang Chen: "..."

The corners of his mouth twitched, and he said, "I mean, your face wasn't even photographed, what are you afraid of?"

"Besides, this trending search isn't in your country. No need to panic, I'll handle it."

Only then did the woman heave a sigh of relief.

Zhang Chen dialed a call, and it was picked up before long.

"What are you even good for? My scandal has been hanging on the trending search for so long and you haven't handled it?"

"I called you many times and you didn't answer. I wasn't clear on your intentions, so I didn't dare to handle it rashly. What if you were the one who wanted it made public? If I had handled it arbitrarily, I was afraid it would turn into a farce."

As the saying goes, the emperor isn't anxious, why should the eunuch rush?

"You really are a genius," Zhang Chen gave a dry laugh, sighing through his teeth. "Get rid of it right now."

"Do you want me to PR a good image for you?"

"Best if you can."

"Is that woman Nami Kimura?"

"Why do you care so much?"

"I need to know the information so I can control how to handle the PR."

"Then don't bother with PR, just delete it directly."

"..."

"Keep the evidence for every single one of those bandwagon-jumping marketing accounts, and sue them for malicious rumor-mongering and invasion of privacy. I want them to compensate me for emotional distress."

"..."

After hanging up the phone, Zhang Chen continued to pick up his phone and reply to other unread messages one by one.
……

Back in China.

Lu Zhou had already finished breakfast by this time and received Zhang Chen's reply.

Zhang Chen: [I thought you'd be dying to fan the flames when you ran into something like this.]
Zhang Chen: [Didn't expect you to actually be a good guy?]

Seeing this message, Lu Zhou couldn't help but raise his lips in a smile.

Lu Zhou: [What defines a good guy?]
Zhang Chen: [Anyone who is good to me is called a good guy.]

Lu Zhou smiled, went back to Weibo to take another look at the trending topics, and found that the previous magnificent spectacle surrounding Zhang Chen's topic no longer existed.

Seeing this momentum, he knew what methods Zhang Chen had used to handle it.

Lu Zhou: [PR-ed already?]
Zhang Chen: [What PR? Just delete the rumors directly. Explanations are useless; people who believe rumors won't listen to explanations.]
Lu Zhou: [Is it really a rumor? Smart-face.GIF]
Lu Zhou: [What do you think?]

Lu Zhou did not reply with the answer in his heart.

Lu Zhou: [With scandals like this coming out, did you fail to pay enough money?]
Zhang Chen: [What money?]
Lu Zhou: [Paparazzi candid shots are all about money, aren't they? Didn't they try to blackmail you?]
Zhang Chen: [Now that you mention it, I was wondering what felt so strange. Your words suddenly woke me up.]
Zhang Chen: [Yeah, why didn't they come looking for me for money after taking candid shots, but instead posted them directly online?]
Lu Zhou: [You really weren't blackmailed?]
Zhang Chen: [Nope.]
Lu Zhou: [Then this play style is indeed a bit unconventional.]
Zhang Chen: [Your entertainment industry has quite a lot of unwritten rules, huh?]
Zhang Chen: [Didn't expect I've already become this famous.]
Zhang Chen: [So this is what it feels like for a celebrity to be stalked by paparazzi; it's quite novel.]
Lu Zhou: [......]
Zhang Chen: [Today's affair makes me feel like not entering the entertainment industry as a celebrity to rake in money is an absolute waste of natural resources.]
Lu Zhou: [......]
Lu Zhou: [Entering the entertainment industry to make money doesn't mean you can only be a celebrity; there are many ways.]
Zhang Chen: [Of course I know that. The ones who rake in money are never celebrities, but capital.]
Lu Zhou: [So, as this capitalist, do you have the intention to enter the entertainment industry to make money?]
Zhang Chen: [What? Got a problem with that?]
Zhang Chen: [The day I find a good project, entering the field in a split second is nothing.]
Lu Zhou: [I actually do have a good project on hand. Care to invest in me?]
Zhang Chen: [???]
Zhang Chen: [You repeatedly competed with me for my ex-girlfriend on the show.]
Zhang Chen: [And now you're asking me to invest in your project?]
Zhang Chen: [Are your brains scrambled thinking I would consider such a thing?]
Lu Zhou: [The show just ended how long ago, and you turned around and found Nami Kimura? Are you sure you care about your ex-girlfriend that much? Stop pretending.]
Zhang Chen: [Screenshot taken. Just wait for me to send you a lawyer's letter for rumor-mongering.]
Lu Zhou: [......]

After quite a while, neither of them replied to each other. Lu Zhou was planning to go do other things when his phone vibrated again.

Zhang Chen: [What project are you talking about?]
Zhang Chen: [Never mind, I'll look for you when I get back to the country.]

Looking at this reply, Lu Zhou smiled lightly and sent an OK gesture over.

After a second thought, he ultimately replied with one more sentence:

Lu Zhou: [I suggest you better check who took those candid photos of you. If it wasn't about money, they're generally after something else. Watch out for people with ulterior motives.]

Seeing Lu Zhou's new reply on the other end, Zhang Chen, who had already planned to exit the chat interface, paused his fingers involuntarily.

Not about money? After something else?

Sneaking photos of him—if not for money, what else could they be after?

Zhang Chen narrowed his eyes slightly and then sent this doubt back to Lu Zhou as well.

As a result, Lu Zhou replied: [Could it also be for your social ruin? Just a guess. Silly-smile.GIF]

Zhang Chen raised an eyebrow and didn't take it to heart.

Social ruin?
Could this bit of lousy gossip ruin his social standing? That's hilarious, he wasn't even a celebrity, and even if he were, it wouldn't.

Therefore, Zhang Chen didn't bother having anyone investigate the matter.

As it turned out, things were truly not that simple.

The trending topics concerning Zhang Chen had died down for the better part of the day. Just as they let down their guard, the topic regarding this matter inexplicably popped up again at night.

The previously deleted and blocked images were processed using techniques like mirror-flipping and posted once again.

It gave off a strong impression of "wildfires cannot burn it out, the spring breeze blows it back to life."

This time, it was no longer led by marketing accounts, but by some low-traffic ordinary user accounts.

These accounts began to systematically analyze Nami Kimura's outfit and styling at an artist's work event last night, and then compared it with the styling of the woman holding hands with Zhang Chen in the hotel.

Netizens dug up the fact that the bracelet worn by the woman in the hotel was the exact same model as Nami Kimura's, and the inner lining of her clothes also bore a suspicious resemblance that day.

Not only were their body shapes alike and their side profiles alike, but even her accessories and outfit were highly similar to Nami Kimura's appearance at the shooting site the previous night.

Thus, the enthusiasm of the gossip-loving netizens was rekindled.

[Ahhhhh! Basically hammered, it's definitely Nami Kimura!]
[Zhang Chen and Nami Kimura are really together!]
[She's my wife...]
[Heartbroken]
[Unacceptable]
[What gives Zhang Chen the right?]
[How could their paths even cross?]
[Paths cross if you have money, it's not that hard. Do you think celebrities in Country R have high status?]
[Nami Kimura and Ye Fangfei still have quite a big difference between them. Does this guy Zhang Chen have such a wide span in his preference for women's types?]
[Zhang Chen is obviously a playboy. Why was he acting like a pure young master before? Yuck.]
[Is nobody digging into Zhang Chen's background? The momentum of suppressing the trending search this morning was quite awesome.]
……

Before long, the topic rushed back onto the hot searches.

This time, Zhang Chen's name didn't appear; instead, it was #Nami Kimura#.

How could a foreign artist have such high popularity domestically?

It was because the Japanese film and television dramas starring Nami Kimura as the female lead were all very successful, and her domestic reputation and feedback were very good. Coupled with her great image—cute, sweet, and with a gentle, likable personality—she had won the deep affection of domestic youth and was the ideal type for many domestic otaku men.

This time, Zhang Chen's scandal was able to generate such high heat precisely because of Nami Kimura's fame.

For a time, many of Nami Kimura's "husband fans" couldn't take this blow and swarmed into the comment section of Zhang Chen's Weibo to launch attacks.

Left speechless by this development, Zhang Chen began to recall Lu Zhou's warning from the morning: *Watch out for people with ulterior motives.*

He finally became vigilant. Who was messing with him?

Hot searches that had already been suppressed had no logical reason to be resurrected so easily. He wasn't an internet celebrity with immense traffic, and even though Nami Kimura had decent domestic popularity, groundless rumors choked out in the cradle shouldn't have stirred up such massive attention again.

It was obvious that someone was deliberately stirring the pot.

Messing with him? With this kind of method, what was their intention? What were they after?

Before long, Zhang Chen received a phone call.

"You bastard! Can't you do something outside that brings glory to my face?"

Zhang Chen trembled in fear. "Dad..."

"How long ago did that show end? You turn around and find a foreign female celebrity—what are you trying insinuate? Are you insulting the dignity of the Ye family with your actual actions? Who couldn't you find? You had to run to the foreign entertainment industry to find someone similar to Ye Fangfei?"

Zhang Chen: "...They aren't similar at all, they're quite different."

"They're both celebrities, how are they quite different?"

"..." What kind of logic was this?!

"Get your ass back here! That whatever-mura whatever-beauty, break up with her immediately and right now!"

"..."

The phone hung up, leaving Zhang Chen speechless.

A belly full of anger with nowhere to vent!

Damn it, it was already determined that he couldn't form a marital alliance with the Ye family, so why couldn't he have emotional freedom?

Who the hell was messing with him? Could it be his brother? Surely not?

Meanwhile, Lu Zhou in China, observing the newly emerged trending search momentum, was also pondering who the person deliberately creating this public opinion behind the scenes might be.

Instead, he guessed whether this matter could be the work of Gao Ting'an, though he had no evidence.

The reason this notion popped into his head was because he felt Gao Ting'an might not yet be entirely certain whether the Zhang and Ye families would form a marriage alliance, so he intended to muddy the waters and completely sever the last shred of hope for an alliance between the two families.

Ye Genghua loved his daughter like his life; nothing could sever the alliance between the two families more effectively than making Zhang Chen utterly disgusting to Ye Genghua.

However, everything was merely Lu Zhou's own deduction.

In his previous life, this development did not exist.

During this stage in his previous life, Zhang Chen was in a different state.

In the previous life, because Lu Zhou and Ye Fangfei openly held hands on the show, Zhang Chen was so furious he was practically at his wit's end. After the show ended, his sole desire was to make Lu Zhou suffer misfortune in the entertainment industry, while agonizing over how to make a move.

The Zhang family had no presence in the entertainment industry, but the Ye family was different...

With Ye Fangfei acting as his protective umbrella in the entertainment industry—protecting her boyfriend fiercely like a mother hen—Zhang Chen couldn't lay a finger on Lu Zhou at all.

In the end, he could only swallow this grievance in silence.

However, Zhang Chen had successfully built a pathetic persona of someone hopelessly in love yet unable to attain it, capturing countless female fans who loved him and becoming the sole wealthy young master who successfully rose to the ranks of top-tier internet celebrity traffic purely by playing the pitiful card.

Although the Zhang Chen of the past life hated Lu Zhou, after that incident occurred, he took the initiative to visit Lu Zhou. Seeing his half-dead state, he let out a heavy sigh.

"Tell me, if the person she chose back then had been me, would today look like a different landscape?"

Lu Zhou's eyes were bloodshot as he stared fixedly at Zhang Chen. His pale lips twitched, and his voice was hoarse and trembling: "Does mocking her choice back then give you a sense of thrill?"

At that time, Lu Zhou had already lost his sanity; the slightest bit of stimulation made him act like a hedgehog. He had no mental bandwidth to discern whose face was good or bad.

"You misunderstood me."

Zhang Chen handed Lu Zhou a cigarette.

Lu Zhou took it and clamped it between his lips; Zhang Chen lit it for him.

Lu Zhou took a fierce drag, exhaling a heavy stream of white smoke.

"The Ye family's affairs really make one sigh with emotion," Zhang Chen said amidst the billowing smoke.

Lu Zhou didn't reply, smoking with vacant eyes.

The two remained in silence for quite a while before Zhang Chen finally left, giving Lu Zhou's shoulder a heavy pat and leaving behind the words: "Stay strong."

If one asked why Lu Zhou had chosen to befriend Zhang Chen without reservation in this present lifetime, one of the reasons was that very encouragement he had offered back then.

Thanks to Kong Deng for the 1500 Qidian Coins tip!
(End of this chapter)